The Tanner Trilogy Boxed Set

Chapter 2

2

“It’s been raining since we got here. If it doesn’t stop, not only will we be washed off this mountain, but this will be a wasted trip.” He stood behind Carli and peered past her into the deluge.

“No destination is ever wasted, Tim. What one does when they arrive determines the sense of loss or achievement.”

“Well, maybe I’m feeling so damn depressed because I can’t do anything with all this rain!”

She lowered the camera, shifted her gaze to her partner, and raised a brow. “You can fill the generator with gas so we have lights later tonight. The new software program is installed on the laptops, ready for the signal from the portable satellite dish that needs to be erected. There are half a dozen memory cards that can be downloaded. And if none of that interests you, it would be nice if our breakfast dishes were cleaned before dinner.”

He scowled, crossed his arms, then gestured outside their tent with a tipping of his head. “Yeah, well, what are you doing? Taking shots of mating inchworms?”

She brought the viewfinder to the space a centimeter from her eyelash. “Already have those cataloged on my flash drive. What we have here, Timmy, is something much more… exotic. It appears our visit has gained the attention of a few Pemons.”

He stepped next to her and peered out into the curtain of rain. “Cannibals? Really?” Squinting, he could detect nothing except how the precipitation muted and obscured the vegetation around them. “Huh. Where did you say those memory cards were?”

She smiled and watched as the shutter flickered, capturing the brown face decorated with white stripes before it disappeared behind a rubber plant.

The sheriff tried six ways to Sunday to make sense of the filing system in the office. Bear had his own thoughts on organization, and the only one who was ever able to decipher it was Carli. Alyssa entered some stuff in the books, but the licenses, deeds, Bear’s will, and other documents that his father was in possession of before the digital age were temporarily misplaced. Tossing down a file folder elicited a cloud of dust. Apparently, Bear didn’t spend much time in his office, or hadn’t recently.

Dragging his hand through the dark blonde locks on top of his head, he sighed and looked around, hoping what he was searching for would jump out at him. He left the private office in search of the only other person who had intimate knowledge of Tanner’s Outdoor Adventures. Closing the door quietly behind him, he turned the deadbolt and took two steps before pausing in the partially lit hallway.

“Of course they’ll pay me for overtime. I promise I’ll be home after breakfast. No, I’ll stay in an empty cabin. Alone. I know, Daddy.”

Shaun c****d his head to the side as he listened to Alyssa. He knew she didn’t spend much time at home. Her father was an unemployed ranch hand, handyman, and miner. Jim Lockhart had an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, and as a result, was rarely found to have earned a paycheck. Alyssa’s mother had died a few years earlier. She was a sickly woman whose hard life with Lockhart sapped what strength she had. Alyssa was the youngest of three. The oldest brother was serving in the military and currently stationed overseas. Her middle brother was an artist of some recognition in New York. Carli had helped him gain entrance to an art school there, and Shaun was the only one who knew she also paid his tuition.

“Such talent should not be wasted simply because there are no funds for an education,” was Carli’s explanation.

Alyssa had worked for Bear since she started high school, as much for the needed income as to spend time away from her father and the ramshackle house in which they lived. As he listened to her hang up the phone, he wondered what she would do when she graduated in a couple of months. It was one more topic to speak with Carli about, if his gypsy sister ever found her way home. He counted to five, then continued down the hallway, not wanting Alyssa to suspect he had overheard her conversation.

“You wouldn’t happen to know about Dad’s unique filing system, would you?” he asked.

Alyssa shook her head. “He didn’t even want me in his office to clean. Said there wasn’t much worth keeping the dust mites from eating.”

When it looked as if she might start crying again, he pressed on, “Were you able to reach International Views and get Carli’s location?”

“Yes. When I informed them that she needed to return home, that Bear had… well… they said they would contact her. She’s in South America.”

He nodded. “It’s late. Those who have decided to remain and finish their vacation should be turned in by now.”

“There are two who are going out with Ray tomorrow morning.”

“Hunting?”

“Fishing. Trout. They were tying new flies yesterday. The three staying in the big cabin are hiking with Donna. The other two plan to check out by noon so they can reach Laramie in time for their flight.”

“And you’ll stay for breakfast?”

She nodded. “Zach will be here to run the desk. Ray said he had work to do and that he would be around in the afternoon.”

“Call me if you hear from Carli. She’s likely to contact someone here first. Are you alright getting to the cabin?”

Alyssa had turned off the computer and the lights in the lodge, enhancing the glow of the coals from the fire that had burned earlier in the hearth. She moved to the other side of the check-in counter and stood in front of the sheriff. The door opened and Zach paused in the doorway.

She glanced at him, then back at Shaun. “I have an escort, thanks,” she said and smiled weakly.

He began to move towards the door, but Alyssa’s hand on his forearm stayed him. “Shaun, who would do this? Why would they kill Bear?”

He gathered her in a hug. They had known each other long enough, and since they were only eight years apart, he thought of her as a younger sister. “I don’t know, Lys. But we’re going to find out.”

She stepped away, and when her gaze met his, tears again were shining in their depths.

“Come on, Alyssa. I’ll walk you to the cabin,” Zach said from the doorway, Shaun was sure, in an effort to keep the tears from falling.

Pulling the lodge door shut behind him, Shaun turned to watch them stroll in the direction of the first cabin. Zach’s arm was around Alyssa’s shoulders, her head was tipped towards him.

Shaun glanced up at the clear night sky, then descended the steps of the veranda. Dropping the spare set of keys in one pocket while he fished his personal keys from the other, he thought about the night ahead. Climbing into the four-wheel-drive sheriff’s vehicle, one of the perks of his position, he drove down the gravel entrance to the highway. Six miles later, a left turn and another half-mile down a graded dirt road, now rutted and muddy due to the last storm, brought him to his own home.

Turning off the headlights, he sat a moment longer. He purchased the land himself but had taken a loan from his father to build. The two of them had worked on much of it themselves. The outside was finished, as was most of the interior. There was some cabinetry that needed to be installed and a guest room that required sanding and sealant on the walls and floor. After that, it was a matter of decorating, which he didn’t have much interest in besides the basics.

Sighing, he made his way to the dark porch, and even darker foyer, as he pushed open the unlocked front door. Flicking on the dimmer switch, he didn’t bother taking off his coat as he took two glasses from the open cupboard and a bottle of whiskey from the counter, then returned to the veranda and the two chairs that rested there.

Sitting, exhaling an exhausted sigh, he placed both glasses on the railing. Unscrewing the cap on the bottle, he poured two fingers worth in each glass. Setting the bottle by his feet with one hand, he picked up a glass with the other.

“To the best damn father,” he said, raising the glass to the stars and black silhouettes of trees, then brought it to his lips and swallowed the aged, amber liquid. He welcomed the burn.

Retrieving the bottle from the wooden planks, he filled the glass again. “Wyoming… hell, the world, just lost one of the good ones,” he toasted to the wilderness, then tossed back the contents.

Glass clinked on glass as he tipped the bottle a third time. The whiskey didn’t touch the constriction in his chest, nor did it keep the wetness from gathering in his eyes.

“I’ll find the bastard, Dad,” Shaun promised, acknowledging the pungent flavor as it hit his throat and settled in a near-empty stomach.

For a moment, he closed his eyes, and countless memories flashed like a photo album that had been recorded on a DVD, then set to fast-forward. His sisters, Carli and Samantha, birthdays and holidays, graduations, additions to the lodge… his father at his most joyous, giving people what they could get nowhere else, the experience of a lifetime. Opening his eyes, he swiped at the tears with the back of his hand. Placing his empty glass on the railing next to the other one, and retaining the bottle, he took himself to his bedroom.

Knowing he would get very little sleep, he traded the chair on the veranda for the one on the balcony off the loft upstairs.

Placing the bottle to his lips, he gazed at the stars and the mountains to the north that couldn’t be seen in the darkness. Samantha wanted to fly out immediately from the stock show in Austin, but he convinced her there was nothing she could do for the investigation. Instead, he insisted she take care of ranch business in Durango, and he would pick her up when she arrived at the Laramie Airport. He hoped Carli would make it home for the funeral, then shook his head at his globe-trotting sister. Bringing the bottle up for another swallow, then resting it and his arm on the side of the chair, he gazed at the heavens, willing a message to Carli. A belated thought arose that if someone was determined to rid Wyoming of the Tanners, having them all gather for a funeral was a perfect opportunity. He would increase the security at the lodge. It wasn’t as if they were helpless. They were, after all, Bear Tanner’s children.

Five days. They had been in the green of the South American jungle for five days, and three of those were soaked with rain. They had finally been able to venture out of the village to photograph some of the surrounding area and nearby settlements. So far, most of her rolls of film contained human beings conducting what most would consider mundane jobs. Out of the industrialized world, survival was based on these tasks. Predator and Prey was the title of the issue she was here to cover, and they had yet to locate a jaguar, tapir, or anaconda. This day had proved to be just as unproductive as the rainy ones, but only when it came to fulfilling the requirements for the feature. Carli never tired of photography or mingling with the natives, whether observing and recording their daily lives, or engaging in the work and celebrations along with families and tribes.

Climbing down from the vehicle that had taken them on a journey further into the jungle, she noticed an unusual amount of excitement in the village for their return. She turned a puzzled look to Tim, who had stepped around the back of the vehicle to unload their gear. He shrugged and lowered the tailgate.

“Glad we’re back for the day? I know my feet are…” his voice trailed off as an official-looking man strode up to Carli.

“Señorita Tanner?”

Carli nodded.

He stretched out his hand, in which he held a white envelope. She glanced from the paper to his face, then took in the uniform. Whether he worked for the Postmaster General or the local law enforcement, he had found her, and the only one who knew where she and Tim were, exactly, was her boss, the editor of International Views, Scott Banding. And Scott would only contact her in the case of an extreme emergency.

Eyes flicking back to the brown ones of the officer, she felt the sweat trickle down her back, heard the buzz of myriad insects, felt the steamy heat from the sun, and her breath as it hesitated in her chest. She took the envelope from the man and, instead of leaving, he remained. Swallowing, and with a slight shaking of her hands, she opened the flap of the envelope. Sliding the slip of paper partially out, she glanced at the heading, which named the communications company, complete with their contact information printed in blue and red. The three words typed in the middle of the paper had the air rushing out of her lungs, her knees buckling, and her mind whirling in confusion.

Tim, who was looking over her shoulder, caught her and held her to him as his eyes read, again, the message that would get them out of this goddamn wetness.

Bear is dead.